Monday, December 03, 2007

To Mr. Meghdoot Sharon, Correspondent, CNN-IBN

Dear Mr. Meghdoot Sharon,

Warm Greetings. I'm writing to you regarding your article headlined
BJP makes bachelor CM its ladies' man in Guj on IBNlive.com on Dec 3, 2007.

While I understand that Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai is your boss and you might feeling honoured to work with an intellectual like him, it doesn't necessarily mean that you share the same disgust that Mr. Sardesai has for Mr. Modi. It's a different thing if it is a company policy in CNN-IBN to always spew venom at Mr. Modi, however flimsy or trivial the reason for that great piece of journalism maybe. If you and your team are that sure about Mr. Modi's complicity in the riots, which are to be condemned in the strongest of terms, please come out with hard facts and take on Mr. Modi. Do not fight from the comfort of your air-conditioned glass-walled studios, that's not fair. Give the other person a chance to respond. And if the belief is that the evidence is all there and still there's no action, then there's something seriously wrong in the justice delivery system in our country and maybe that is what you should be looking at setting right, and not targetting an individual. In fact, Mr. Modi appears more dignified with his silence compared to your
repeated diatribes, which are, more often than not, are needlessly vitriolic and below the belt. What about this article headlined Modi sells Guj Inc, 'appeases rich and ignores poor' which appeared on Nov 18. Articles like these, Mr. Sharon, are not, in good spirit and smack of vengence and a huge sense of political and maybe, even personal vendetta. It doesn't appear to be reporting or journalism, it's sleazy and sickening.

I don't think I need to clarify, but I'm no supporter of Mr Modi. If that man is found guilty by a court of law and even if he's to be hanged for the crime he's to have committed, so be it. But do not become the judge yourself. I'm reminded of that famous quote from Spiderman here. At least, credit him for the work he has done in his term as the Chief Minister. And if you stay in Gujarat and have seen things around you while you report, I'm sure you'd agree with me, that development in Gujarat has happened, and has happened at a good pace.

Good Night, And Good Luck

Regards,
Nikhil Kulkarni


3 comments:

Balaji Sharma said...

Finally! Was beginning to wonder if Quirky thoughts on quirky/murky politics would ever reappear on this blog. Keep them coming.

A certain Vinod Mehta once said journalism was about 'reporting the truth the way we see it. Enough loophole in the definition for these men of power to make a king or criminal of anyone they will. Sadly, public opinion finds it easier to buy the glitzy packaged 'truth' dosages shoved down their throat 24x7. The puppets talk and the herds nod.

Will things change? Should they?

Harish said...

Brilliantly said.

If Congress, compared to BJP, had given more tickets to women then CNN-IBN would have extolled the virtue of 'caring-for-women'. They would have credited the woman from Italy for this.

They made a big hue and cry of 'artistic freedom' in Gujarat not too long ago. Now, to the same people, Taslima issue is more of a political one than something related to freedom of expression.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/taslima-case-politics-or-freedom-of-expression/53091-3.html

As you have rightly pointed, if they have evidence of wrongdoing they should certainly approach the courts with that so that justice can done in those cases. Instead, they thrive on cheap gimmicks like sting operations. That the sting operations have lost credibility is something that does not separate mention.

What the media realise is that the people are more intelligent than them. If they assume that people cannot see through their unfair means, they are at the risk of completely loosing credibility.

Harish said...

The link in the previous comment was incompletely published.
Here's the link.